Sharks are the last of the prehistoric animals. They have roamed the oceans's depths for millions of years. Three hundred and fifty species of shards are now accepted and two hundred fifty species of fish are sharks.

No creature on earth has a worse reputation than does the shark. It is also one of the most feared animals of the sea. Their reputation for being a man-eater is purely over-rated, mainly by the media. Through countless studies, people who work with and study sharks have found them to be normally unagressive and timid toward man with the exception of the Great White Shark. This is not to say that the Great White preys on humans, however. Fewer than 100 attacks are recorded world-wide each year. A shark attack on a human is bites or slashes, which aren't normally attempts to kill. Scientists have narrowed the attackers to twenty-five different species. It is thought that a human in the water, while swimming or surfing appears to be in distress. This can encite a shark should they be hungry but we have ways of defending ourselves against an attack. Should one encounter a shark, hitting it bluntly on the "nose" should deter it. Sharks are very smart and very predictable.

Most of the species of sharks are carnivorous(meat-eaters). A shark's normal diet is fish, mollusks and crustaceans. When sharks really go blood mad they will hunt and feed on marine animals. A shark's only natural enemy is a larger shark. No shark normally feeds on man although it will feed on dead or dying animals. A shark can quickly devour the remains of a whale carcass or the carcass of any other large creature. A shark may eat it's prey either whole or in large chunks, hence the "bites and slashes" seen in several attacks. A shark will "shake" it's head from side to side to tear flesh from it's prey if it is large.

Sharks very greatly in size and habits. Whale sharks, the largest of all fish, can be up to sixty feet long and weigh up to 15 tons, which is more than double the weight of an elephant. Some of the smallest sharks weigh merely ounces and are only a few inches long. Many sharks are found in the depths of the oceans and others near the surface. They can live in coastal waters as well as far out to sea. A few species even live in freshwater.